Publisher Description
The “rock-solid” (Kirkus Reviews) prosecutor Butch Karp and his wife, Marlene Ciampi, return to solve the suspicious murder of a US colonel and battle corruption at the highest levels of the United States government in this novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum.
Intrigue, murder, corruption, and dramatic courtroom battles combine to make Infamy another must-read in Robert K. Tanenbaum’s “tightly-written” (Booklist) legal thrillers. When a former Army veteran suddenly murders a colonel in New York, he claims that he had to do it because he was being used in mind control experiments. Surprisingly, a top Wall Street criminal defense lawyer, one with ties to the White House, decides to defend the killer, arguing that his client suffered from post-traumatic stress from his tours in Afghanistan and that it’s his patriotic duty to assist him.
As New York District Attorney Roger “Butch” Karp prepares a murder case against the veteran, he meets with investigative reporter Ariadne Stupenagel, who suspects that one of her sources for a story on high-level government corruption was a victim in the shooting. In this fast-paced thriller, Karp goes up against corruption so powerful that he, his family, and his friends are in danger if he intends to prosecute those responsible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Tanenbaum's 28th thriller featuring Manhattan DA Butch Karp (after 2015's Trap) displays all of the series' plot excesses. A prologue shows Karp awaiting a verdict for a defendant "on trial not just for murder, but metaphorically for murdering the truth." The lies the defense presented "cut to the very heart of the nation's security, all so that a few corrupt men and women could consolidate power, gain enormous wealth, and promote their worldview." Also in the courtroom are the improbable team of Karp's allies, including a Taos Indian tracker, a Vietnamese gangster, and the head of a federal antiterrorism agency who cannot be named publicly. Those over-the-top elements give a good sense of what's to follow, as Tanenbaum then flashes back to the events that led to the sensational murder trial, which involve a covert U.S. government op (which a bad guy conveniently writes about in an unsecured notebook) and a "paid assassin and terrorist for hire" whom Karp has allowed to remain free. The scheme Karp hatches to nail the villains will test even those readers who managed to suspend disbelief until then.